


First Mate of the Stormchaser

by Elennare



Category: Yogscast "High Rollers" D&D Campaign
Genre: (Quill and the Elenasto family), Episode 44: The Elenasto Fiasco, Episode 45: Maiden Voyage, Friendship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:27:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21827446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elennare/pseuds/Elennare
Summary: Oriya's arrival to theStormchaser, from her perspective.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	First Mate of the Stormchaser

**Author's Note:**

  * For [magorna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/magorna/gifts).



> Magorna, I hope you like it! :)
> 
> Many thanks to my amazing beta - any errors remaining are mine alone.

Oriya is curled up in her armchair, wearily listening to the storm rage outside and wishing it would stop so she can get some sleep. She’s had a long, hard day, tracking and killing a bulette that had been stalking the road to Stenhill, and she only just made it back to her cottage ahead of the rain. She’s staring at the flickering peat fire, thinking of nothing in particular, when a familiar voice (one she has wondered if she’d ever hear again) suddenly echoes in her mind.

<<Oriya! It’s Quill. We’ve got an airship. Want in? More adventure, more loot, maybe revenge? Let us know! Come to Gusthaven. See you, bye.>>

It's a startling proposition, but Oriya doesn't need any time to make up her mind. She's been happy enough in Myrskyr, proud of all she can do to keep the lands safer, but those few days of travel with Quill and the others showed her how much she had missed being part of a crew, a team. And to work on an airship! Quill hasn't said what they want her for, but even if it's as a plain crew member, she wants in. She’d better reply before the spell fades, then! She knows these spells have limited words, though she's not exactly sure how many… What are the most important things she needs to say? Quill’s message was a few short sentences, so she expects her reply will have the same limitations.

<<Yes, I want in! Can you pay for teleportation from Katuvagg? Where in Gusthaven? What do you want me to do? Good to hear you again, my friend!>>

She feels the faint tingling of magic fade as she speaks the last few words, and guesses they weren’t sent; but at least she got the questions through. There’s no immediate response from Quill - he probably has to discuss with the others. It’s so good to hear from him, though! It was a shock to suddenly have his voice in her mind, though she had been confident his friends would bring him back if it was in any way possible, even if they had to go to the ends of Aerois for it. She’s pleased beyond measure, now, to know they succeeded so quickly. She’s thought often of Quill’s death… It wasn’t the first time she saw someone die, far from it; a sailor’s life is a tough one, as is a monster slayer’s. But the memories are still vivid - clutching helplessly at him, trying and failing to stop the bleeding; being separated from him by the magical walls, not sure what was happening; kneeling by his body, trying to comfort Lucius and holding back her own tears… She shakes her head to clear it. Quill is alive again, after all, there’s no need to dwell on his death! She’d better start sorting out her things, as she waits for Quill’s reply.

It doesn’t take her long to pack; she’s used to living on shipboard, fitting all her possessions into a single trunk, and she’s bought only the bare minimum in Myrskyr, saving every copper she can towards someday getting her _Goldtooth_ back. Partway through her packing, another message comes from Quill.

<<Welcome to the _Stormchaser_ , first mate! We’ll cover the teleportation. Go to Lillian and Sprocket Ship-Building, say you’re with Lucius Elenasto. We’ll meet you there.>>

_First mate! That’s wonderful!_ She thinks, and quickly composes her reply. <<Excellent! It will take about a week to get to Katuvagg, but I’ll be there as soon as possible.>>

A Ship-Builders… Oriya wonders where they got the money to have a new airship built, as she’s certain they must be incredibly expensive. Perhaps they did something heroic, and it’s a reward from the city? Or is it a gift from Lucius’s family? They must be even more wealthy than she had guessed, if so - no wonder Lucius was surprised she’d never heard of them. And she’s going to be first mate! 

******

A week later, Oriya steps through the teleportation circle into Gusthaven. She's never been here before, and she’s impressed by the soaring elven architecture and the magical protections against the elements. She knows which shipbuilders to ask for, and she's used to exploring new ports, even if this sky city is very different to the lowland ones she knows, so it doesn't take her long to find her way to Lillian and Sprocket's. The news waiting for her there, though, is worrying; Lucius and his friends have not been to the ship for a couple of days, and there are all sorts of rumours flying about the city. 

As she's already at the ship, Oriya decides she had better meet the crew first. The doctor is the only officer currently around, and Oriya is delighted to find a fellow orc on board. She seems very capable, and Oriya is certain her friends will be needing her at some point! For the rest, Lookout is intriguing - other than Sentry, who she barely met, she's never had much to do with Guardians before. Howard is delightfully cheery, and seems to already be on good terms with all the crew, which is a vital quality in a cook. Penny seems mostly enthused about the ballista… Remembering all they went through in Myrskyr, Oriya is certain she'll have plenty of chances to use them! Lancien is somewhat terrifyingly eager and naive, and Oriya decides to take him under her wing, train him so he'll have some chance of surviving. It'll take her more than this first meeting to learn to tell all the members of the wolf pack apart, but she likes Kamara, who seems straightforward and sensible. The beastwalkers are hardly the crew she would have expected to appeal to Lucius! A greater contrast to the richly-dressed, well-mannered elven noble than this noisy, rough-and-tumble wolf pack is hard to imagine. But she thinks she can work with them, which is what really matters.

With that accomplished, Oriya heads out into the city to discover all she can. By dint of judicious drink-buying, she's soon in possession of a pile of facts, half-facts, and rumours. She had already heard the horrifying news of the destruction of the Elenasto estate and the death of the family from Sprocket, and she is sorry for Lucius's loss. She remembers him speaking of his father, especially, and she knows this will have hit him hard. Most people she speaks with seem to think the explosion was an accident, but some have their doubts. With Lucius currently missing, Oriya is inclined to side with the latter; and if it wasn’t an accident, she swears to herself she’ll do all she can to help her friends bring the perpetrators to justice. Opinion also seems divided on whether Lucius himself had already died in an airship crash - which is curious, as Oriya knows very well he hadn't, and hearing that makes her even more suspicious about the supposed accident that killed his family.

The main rumour going around right now is one of a fight in the palace, or an attack - it seems quite certain an important advisor is dead, but not at all certain how. And several of the rumours speak of a strange group who'd been seen around the palace just before the fight; the wild elf is mentioned most often, with suspicion and disdain, but they also speak of a Guardian, of a one-winged messenger, of a genasi. What, Oriya wonders, have her friends got themselves into? If they did kill this advisor, she is certain they had good reason for it, but will the authorities see it that way? If this were an orc settlement, or Myrskyr, she would have tried to go to them directly, to find out what she could and speak for her friends, but she doubts the sky elves will care what she has to say. Still, she knows they're smart and resourceful, and will surely be able to get out of whatever trouble they're in. Her best path, she decides, is to focus on getting their ship and crew ready. She still needs to learn how to fly an airship, after all, it’s sure to have some differences from a sailing vessel! She’ll go over everyone’s duties with them, too, to make sure they all know what they should be doing. 

Despite her certainty that they'd work it out, she is very pleased and more than a little relieved when her friends suddenly show up a couple of days later. She's surprised, too, at the difference a couple of weeks have made. Aila is the least changed, perhaps, though she's even more watchful than Oriya remembers her. Nova is much more cheerful, and seems to almost vibrate with enthusiasm as she talks about the engines! This is how Nova should always be, Oriya thinks, contrasting it with her memories of a miserable girl blaming herself for everything that had happened to them. Sentry and Quill are alive, of course - she looks forward to getting to know Sentry, and she is very intrigued about Quill's restored eye. As for Lucius… that damn flower crown is gone, at least, but so is his long blond hair, cut short and dyed brown. He seems to be holding together well, to outward appearance at least, but Oriya suspects there’s more under the surface. There's much she wants to ask, but she knows she needs to wait for the right moments.

****** 

The first of those moments comes late that night. As she takes a last turn around the ship before going to bed, Oriya runs into Aila doing the same thing.

“A drink, my friend?” she suggests, and soon they're both sitting in the galley with mugs of ale.

“How are you? Have you recovered from the astral plane?” Oriya asks.

“Well, I never want to go there again!” Aila replies. “But yeah, I’m fine. Of course I’m fine.”

Oriya hears the too-strong insistence, but decides not to comment on it. She’s heard some bits and pieces of what Aila and Quill went through in the astral plane, and the whole experience (including having your consciousness suddenly transported elsewhere) sounds frankly horrific. But she knows how much value Aila places on her strength and resilience.

“You seem to have been through a great deal since we parted,” she says instead.

Aila snorts. “You could say that, yeah! We nearly got arrested as soon as we arrived in Gusthaven. If the guards hadn't recognized Lucius, once we convinced him to take off that stupid crown, we'd probably have been thrown over the side right there - did you know that's what they do with criminals in Gusthaven?”

“I did not know that, I'll remember it! I survived being thrown overboard, but I don't think I could survive being thrown from a sky city.”

“Your brother threw you overboard?” Aila demands, staring at her.

“Of course! He knew I would never stop trying to retake my ship if he didn't. When I find him, I intend to make him walk the plank,” Oriya says. Landlubbers… any sailor would have known that. It’s a good thing they brought her in on this crew, she thinks as she sips at her ale.

Aila stares at her, then shakes her head. “Maybe I'm better off not knowing my family… Anyway, once the guards recognized Lucius they calmed down. We were taken to see his home - or what was left of it, it was blown up - ” she breaks off for a second, eyes going wide in some sudden realization, then exclaims, “Oh my gods, it was Ellois who took us to see it! That - that - ” she can't seem to find an epithet strong enough, and lightning is beginning to crackle along her arms.

“Who is Ellois?” Oriya asks, partly from a genuine desire to know, partly out of concern about the lightning setting something on fire.

“Ellois,” Aila practically spits the name, “was the prince’s advisor, the bastard who had Lucius's family killed, and tried to kill us all!”

“ _Was_? You've taken care of him, then?” That must be the dead advisor there were rumours about? If somehow it isn’t, Oriya is ready to pick up her rapier and go hunting.

“Yeah, and they threw us in prison as thanks,” Aila says scornfully, gulping down some ale. “At least they came to their senses and released us eventually.”

“Good! That you took care of him, I mean, not that they imprisoned you. They should have been thanking you!” Oriya shakes her head over such foolishness. “It must have been a relief for Lucius to have taken his revenge.”

“I… guess so? He's been doing a little better since then, and at least we're a bit less worried about someone turning up to kill him too! But I've been guarding him while the others researched, and… it's still bad, sometimes it’s really bad.” She grimaces. “I'm not good at the talking to people thing, I don't know how to help!”

“I think you are better than you think you are,” Oriya disagrees. “You kept everyone going in Myrskyr - especially after losing Quill.”

“Eh, someone had to,” Aila brushes it off. “I am glad to have Quill again, though!”

“Was it difficult? To have him brought back to life?”

“Kind of… We had to persuade the priestess that he deserved it, and Lucius traded part of his compensation money for a bar of ethereum for the ritual.”

Of course he would, Oriya thinks, remembering the high elf's broken-hearted sobbing over Quill's body. “I'm glad you were able to get him back.”

“No one else had better die on me,” Aila says. “I am done with carrying bodies! And that includes you too! No dying!”

Oriya chuckles. “I don't intend to!” Despite Aila's brusque words, she can hear the affection behind them, and she's touched. “You are a strong one, but that is still a heavy burden.”

“Yeah,” Aila mutters, then tosses back the last of her ale. “We should get some rest,” she says, standing and nodding to Oriya before leaving. 

Oriya nods back and finishes her own ale, mulling over everything Aila told her, before heading to her quarters. The loss, even temporarily, of her friends has clearly been weighing on Aila more than she’s willing to admit. Oriya wonders if she even realises how much it’s affected her; she can’t imagine Aila doing much introspection, she always seems happiest with a clear target to hit. And she’s obviously worried about Lucius, too… From what she’s seen so far, Oriya had thought he was doing fairly well. But perhaps she’s been too distracted by trying to make him appear at least somewhat professional in front of his crew?

******

With her new knowledge, Oriya wants to talk to Lucius. It's not difficult to find an opportunity, with their new roles; all she has to do is say she’d like a word with him, and he follows her into the meeting room quite willingly. 

“Is there a problem with the ship? Or the crew?” Lucius asks, his forehead furrowed in worry.

“No, no, everything is fine with the ship,” Oriya hastens to reassure him. “This is more of a… personal conversation. I heard what happened to your family, Lucius. I'm so very sorry for your loss.”

“Ah,” Lucius says quietly. “Thank you.” His expression has changed to smooth politeness, but the look in his eyes… When she met him he was grieving for Sentry, and within three days for Quill too, but he'd had hope then, had a mission (had a fairy crown influencing him, for part of it). Now there's a deep sorrow that Oriya suspects only time can really help with. But perhaps she can do something.

“Aila told me they were betrayed… I know something of what that's like.”

“Yes, of course…” For a moment, it seems as if that's all he's going to say. Then he continues, “I would have trusted Ellois with my life, you know. Well, I did, and I nearly got everyone killed!”

“That was not your fault,” Oriya says firmly. “And you didn’t get your friends killed, and you avenged your family!”

Lucius looks away, not meeting her eyes. There’s a brief pause, before he sighs and says, “I’m not sure I know who to trust any more.”

“You trust your friends, yes? Quill, Nova, Sentry, Aila?” If he doesn’t trust those four, Oriya doesn’t know what she’ll do.

“Oh, of course!” Lucius nods emphatically, much to her relief. “And you, Oriya…"

"You don't need to say that," Oriya replies.

Lucius shakes his head. "I'm not saying it to be polite, I mean it. One of the reasons we wanted you as first mate was because we were sure we could trust you - which isn’t something we can say of most people we’ve met.”

“Well, thank you,” Oriya says. “And… I think you can trust this crew, too. The wolf pack is … interesting! But as long as they’re treated fairly, I think they will be loyal to you. And even if they do turn against you, I would say they are more the type to punch you in the face than stab you in the back.”

In fact, that probably explains how they came to pick this crew, Oriya thinks. She’d been surprised at Lucius’s choices, but if he was looking for people to trust, it made sense.

Lucius looks at her thoughtfully. “I don’t mean to be rude,” he says, slowly, as if searching for words, and Oriya realises what he’s thinking of.

“But I lost my ship to a mutiny?” she asks, and he nods. “Oh, I knew there were some malcontents! But my bastard brother told me he was handling it, and I believed him. I won’t make that mistake again! You’ll know of any problems, and we’ll deal with them together.”

“Thank you, that sounds good. I’m sorry I brought it up…”

She waves his apology away, smiling. “That’s quite all right! You are the captain, you need to think of such things. And I am your first mate, I need to know any concerns you have.”

“You will, I promise,” Lucius says. “Well, we’d better get back to our duties!” 

As they reach the door, he pauses, his metal-covered hand resting on it. “I meant what I said yesterday, about using the _Stormchaser_ to track down the _Goldtooth_ some time. We’d all be happy to help you do that.”

“Thank you, Lucius. I would very much like that! But it can wait, I know you have important things to do.”

“Yes, we do…” he shakes his head, looking overwhelmed for a moment, then smiles at her. “I’m glad we’ll have your help.” With that, he salutes and walks away.

Oriya returns the salute and heads to the top deck, turning the conversation over in her mind. Now she understands better, why Aila was worried, why all his friends watch him as they do. This captaincy is good for him, she thinks, giving him something to do; but he needs someone at his side who understands how a ship is run. It’s not just Lucius, either, though his bereavement has placed an added strain on him. It’s all five of them. She doesn’t know all the details, but she’s heard them talking enough to know that whatever they are doing, it may well save Aerois some day. She sees how their troubles burden them, and she will do whatever she can to help them carry their weight. She smiles to herself, enjoying this renewed sense of purpose she feels. She is happier than ever, now, that she joined the _Stormchaser_.


End file.
